There was an enlightening discussion on this a while back so you should try doing a search. In general the gist of the comments was that a rain shower head experience is usually gentle and those with thick hair have difficulty rinsing shampoo and other hair products. Many, however, like the rain shower for the gentleness. In one shower that will be used by grubby children coming in from playing outside we have installed both a rain shower and a handshower in hopes that they will be enticed into getting cleaned up before they wander through the house. This will also probably be the dog shower. We haven't had a chance to use it yet as we are still waiting for our c.o. HTH.